AA294 Aircraft Design Seminar, 2009-2010
Paper Airplanes of McDonnell Douglas (Wednesday, April 7)
John Vassberg
Boeing Technical Fellow
The history and design features of several would-be McDonnell Douglas airliners including the MD-XX and the MD-12.
Mathematics, Computing and Flight (Wednesday, April 14)
Professor Antony Jameson
Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics, Stanford University
The talk will examine the evolution of animal and human flight, and the role of mathematics and more recently computing, in our understanding of flight and how all aspects of aviation are now dominated by computing, with particular reference to the contributions of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and its current and future impact.
ARES: Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey of Mars (Wednesday, April 21)
Bob Parks
Chief Aircraft Designer at Aurora Flight Sciences
ARES (Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey of Mars) was a proposed Mars Scout mission using an airplane to provide high-value science measurements in the areas of atmospheric chemistry, surface geology and mineralogy, and crustal magnetism. The use of an airplane for robotic exploration of Mars has been studied for over 25 years. There are, however, significant challenges associated with getting an airplane to Mars and flying through the thin, carbon dioxide Martian atmosphere. The traditional wisdom for aircraft design does not always apply for this type of vehicle and geometric, aerodynamic, and mission constraints result in a limited feasible design space. Following a successful high altitude test flight of the basic configuration, additional design refinement led to the current design. The resulting Mars airplane concept enables the high-value science objectives of the ARES mission to be accomplished while also fulfilling the desire for a simple, low-risk design.
The traditional wisdom for aircraft design does not always apply for this type of vehicle and geometric, aerodynamic, and mission constraints result in a limited feasible design space.
Enabling Efficient, Small VTOL Aircraft through Electric Propulsion(Wednesday, April 28th)
Mark Moore
Senior Scientist, NASA Langley Research Center
Small VTOL aircraft platforms have long been plagued with mechanical powertrain problems due to small turbine and reciprocating engine integration issues. The result has been complex, inefficient, noisy and poor performing vehicles that do not integrate well with the desire for aircraft that can operate in close proximity to meet transformational societal capabilities. Electric propulsion offers a scale-free technology integration path, with new degrees of aircraft integration freedom. The benefits of newly emerging electrical propulsion technologies are discussed, within the context of a novel aircraft configuration called the Puffin. This VTOL vehicle is designed to achieve a breakthrough in community noise and efficiency, compared to state of the art helicopters or tilt-rotors.
Electric propulsion offers a scale-free technology integration path, with new degrees of aircraft integration freedom.
Wings in The National Air and Space Museum (Wednesday, May 5)
Professor John D. Anderson
Curator of Aerodynamics, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution & Professor Emeritus, Aerospace Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park
Part of my responsibility at the National Air and Space Museum is to present the history of the technology of the airplane to the public. For most people, a visit to the Museum is a “gee whiz” experience just looking at the historic airplanes and space vehicles. However, if you know what to look for, you can also see the history of aeronautical engineering technology laid out in front of you as well. In this presentation I will focus on the major early breakthroughs in the aerodynamic design of wings and airfoils as seen through some of the airplanes in the collection. This will be a kind of “virtual tour”, starting with the Wright Flyer and ending with the Lockheed F-104. The presentation is designed to be of “gee whiz” interest to both a technical and non-technical audience.
This will be a kind of “virtual tour”, starting with the Wright Flyer and ending with the Lockheed F-104.
ICAO Fuel Burn Goals and Requirements for Aircraft in 2020, 2030, and beyond (Wednesday, May 12)
Professor Juan J. Alonso
Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics, Stanford University
This talk briefly describes the process being followed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to setup Long-Term Technology Goals for fuel burn reductions of the commercial fleet by 2020 and 2030. For this purpose, a group of Independent Experts (IEs) has been assembled to gather information about potential technologies (for airframe aerodynamics, propulsion, materials & structures, and innovative configurations) and, with the help of various institutions around the world, to integrate these technologies into new aircraft resized to take advantage of the component-technology improvements. Improvements in fuel burn of approximately 40-50% vs current-day technology are possible by 2030 with an aggressive technology development approach. In addition, this talk discusses various efforts by institutions around the world to bring about significant improvements in the efficiency of future aircraft.
Improvements in fuel burn of approximately 40-50% vs current-day technology are possible by 2030 with an aggressive technology development approach.
Unmanned Air Vehicle Technologies at the US Naval Research Laboratory
Special Time and Location: Friday, May 14, 2:15-3:30 PM. Room 540-108
Richard J. Foch
Senior Scientist for Expendable Vehicles, Naval Research Laboratory
Mr. Foch will present an overview of Navy technologies for unmanned, expendable, and autonomous air vehicles. This area of research has had significant investment by the Navy to solve many unique problems such as shipboard launch and recovery, rapid deployment, long range and endurance, “green” propulsion, plus autonomous operation by non-aviation trained personnel. The results from over 30 years of NRL research in this area have both military and civilian applications. Mr. Foch’s presentation will include unfolding and tube-launched aircraft, long endurance flight using hydrogen-fuel PEM fuel cell power sources for electric propulsion, and a projection of future UAV capabilities.
…unfolding and tube-launched aircraft, long endurance flight using hydrogen-fuel PEM fuel cell power sources for electric propulsion, and a projection of future UAV capabilities.
The Future[s] of Aeronautics (Wednesday, May 19)
Dennis Bushnell
Chief Scientist, NASA Langley Research Center
Aeronautics was the It/Bio/Nano of the early-to-mid portion of the 1900’s. More recently the field has become commoditized with few major changes since the 1970’s. This seminar addresses what we could do in Aeronautics if we “took the gloves off”, reverted back to the invention/creation mode typical of an early stage industry. Brief addresses personal aircraft writ large, Advanced long haul and SSTs and associated ATC requirements/ opportunities.Presentation concludes with a very different long haul design construct, capable of solving the climate change issues as they pertain to aeronautics and reducing fuel burn over 80%. This performance is achieved via a very synergistic conceptual design which is enabled by a “deviant” structural approach allowing incorporation of frontier drag reduction concepts across the board. In the process most of the conventional Aircraft design assumptions are obviated. Three years of research on this configuration indicates the estimated performance is both “real” and of the correct order.
This seminar addresses what we could do in Aeronautics if we “took the gloves off”, reverted back to the invention/creation mode typical of an early stage industry.
Building 21st Century Aircraft: The View from the Outside (Wednesday, May 26th)
Jon Ostrower
The Flight Blogger, Flight International
With the first decade of the 21st century now complete, commercial aircraft design and manufacturing is forever transformed. Aircraft development has shifted from higher, faster (speed), farther to faster (time to market), better and most importantly cheaper. Tectonic shifts are taking place in the industry with new technologies, new global players are emerging and new business models are taking hold. Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is the embodiment of that transformation. Here is how it looks from the outside peering in. Finding and reporting on the context for this shift – in today’s new media environment – is at the heart of covering the aerospace industry and the aircraft it creates.
Wednesday May 26th, 2:15-3:30 PM.